Integrating Strategic Sustainable Development into Assessing Following up Suppliers in Procurement Practices

Abstract: Currently supply chains are globally interlinked, involve many different stakeholders and have a significant impact on the socio-ecological system. They are associated with materials extraction, design, production methods and volume, which result in pollutants and waste as by-products. Procurement plays a critical role in this process by serving as a ‘gate-keeper’. It acts as a great leverage point to influence which products and services are selected by organisations from the assessment of suppliers’ performance. This thesis examines how supplier assessment and follow up tools and their use by the organisation itself can work towards full sustainability. At present, there is a gap in current practices, with the most notable being a lack of vision of success for sustainability, a definition of sustainability that is not communicated across the supply chain, and the adoption of a short-term perspective. We develop two applications - a Golden Standard model and Key Elements for the organisation to embody to maximise its use in order to bridge this gap. These applications can be used by organisations to tailor their supplier assessment and follow up tools to ultimately move towards a sustainable society.